We Hire Her Out!

Seriously, we do! So if you need help in your kitchen, don't hesitate to call me and I'll send Rian your way!

Here is a picture of Rian helping Auntie Lauren make her very yummy, 100% homemade, green bean casserole! I love how she is holding the handle of the pan while stirring so the pan doesn't move. Is she a natural or what?! And the dish tasted wonderful!

This age is so much fun, don't you think!

PS Lauren, I want that recipe...email me it :)

two and a half

click collage to enlarge

We just LOVE, LOVE, LOVE our little girl....who just turned 2 1/2. Where does the time go?

We Love Auntie Lauren!

Timing couldn't have been any better! Lauren, Matt's sister, who lives in Norway, came out to Cali for a month so she could be here for Joseph's birth. Which just happened to be the same time we came back to Cali!

I didn't bring out my camera as much as I should have, but I was able to snap a few shots of Rian and Auntie Lauren together.

Rian always has so much fun with Lauren, as do I :) It's sad that she lives so far away :( We're grateful for the chance we had to spend some time with her, though, and meet her fiance, Karl! We love you Auntie! Have a safe flight back to Oslo!

Welcome Joseph!

Welcome our newest nephew, Joseph Aaron Quantrell, born on Christmas Eve 2008.

Mom and Baby are doing great and Baby JoeJoe is growing like a weed!

We are so lucky to be back in the states so we could meet him! Rian loves him and it's so cute to hear her say "Baby JoeJoe"!

I was hesitant to have Rian hold the baby, but she really wanted to, so we gave it a try. Auntie Lauren supervised while I took some pictures. Good thing Auntie was there because as soon as Rian's cousin, Logan, came walking in holding the cat, Rian pushed the baby away and said "I want to hold the cat!". Lauren was able to scoop up the baby right out of Rian's arms before she jetted off the couch to the cat.

Congrats Noah, Jen, Aurora, and Logan on your newest addition!

Hanging with the Q's

We have had so much fun spending time with Matt's family! We went to the zoo a few weeks ago and Grandma Wendy treated the kids to a face painting. Rian's first! She wanted butterflies, Logan had a dragon, and Aurora had two swans. So cute!

Welcome Apl!

Our newest niece, Apl Ina Trinette Pine, was born on her due date, February 2nd, at 7:46:57 am weighing 8 lbs 4 oz. Everybody is doing well and Apl is already started to smile :)

Congrats Chris, Katy, C and Ruby! Too bad it will be a while before we get to meet this beautiful bundle of joy....they live in Norway :( So we expect lots of pics, Chris and Katy, she'll be growing so fast.

I Love My Seabee

I absolutely LOVE this uniform!! Matt was issued it earlier this week and it has been the uniform of the day since. Don't you just love it too???

When I was taking his picture this afternoon, Rian asked to be in the picture too. I swear we did not pose her! She wanted to stand there just like Daddy :)

300 Square Feet

Matt has begun his training in Cali and luckily Rian and I are able to join him this time. The Navy is putting us up in the BOQ (Bachelor Officer Quarters), in the 'family suite'....if you even dare to call it that! It is TINY, but at least we are here with him, that's what that counts!!!

I swear I am not complaining. I'm just saying that I could never live in NY or anywhere where the apartments are as tiny as this. Welcome to our 'living room/Rian's bedroom'. It is a itty-bitty room filled to the brim with all this furniture. I asked if they could remove some of it, but they told me no. There is no door to the bedroom, so it looks like Matt and I will be going to bed a 8pm too ;)

Welcome to the kitchen and bedroom! Yes, this is our kitchen for the next 3 months. How in the world am I suppose to cook in this thing? Do you see the mini fridge? And the zero counter tops? It is seriously like 4 feet by 4 feet. Looks like Rian and I will be taking a daily trip to the grocery store :) Thanks heavens this is only temporary!

This is our bed-room. Even though there is not a door to the room, so I wouldn't really call it a room. It is so small that it can only fit a bed and a dresser that is blocking half the closet! Nice, huh?!

Lucky for us...we are a tight-nit family! So these living arrangements might just work...for a few months at least!

Our Little Monkey

I was unpacking our bags last night in our 'bedroom', when I heard a big THUMP. I peek my head around the corner to see Rian in her pack-n-play. That's weird, I thought, she was just in here helping me. So I pull her out of there and ask her to show mommy how she got in there. Sure enough, this is what she did!

This was the video I was originally trying to upload last post. Sorry about all the video posts :)

Rian's Workouts

Thanks to our new Wii Fit and my new Jillian video (thanks Kim for that suggestion!), Rian has been really taking an interest to working out too. Here she is doing push-ups with Daddy.....and just fyi, no, this is not his usual form :)

Now she is doing sit-ups!

I actually meant to upload a different video, but I accidentally uploaded this one and so I decided to post it anyways!